In the breeding and raising of pigs, the newborn little pigs are commonly confined with the sow in farrowing pens. After the pigs are weaned, they are then placed in hog-finishing buildings until they are ready for market. The construction of these pens and buildings must be such to provide feed and rest areas and also to provide for ease of cleaning and waste removal. Typically, the flooring in such buildings should allow waste to drop through to a pit beneath the flooring. Various flooring designs have been developed and commercially used. One such flooring is a wire mesh flooring which consists of woven wire in which the warp and crosswires are woven together in a manner to provide rectangular-shaped openings between the wires to permit the passage of waste. However, the wires must be spaced sufficiently close so that the pigs' feet do not slip through the openings. On the other hand, the openings must be large enough to permit the easy passage of waste to the pit beneath the floor.
One disadvantage of the wire mesh flooring is that the flooring tends to produce leg, knee and foot sores and abrasions. This is because the woven wires are typically circular in cross-section and provide little contact surface with the pigs. Thus, the wires tend to abrade or cut the animals. Some manufacturers form various degrees of flatness on the top side of the round wires to increase the surface area in an attempt to make the flooring more comfortable for the animals. However, when a round wire is flattened, this substantially decreases the rectangular moment of inertia about the bending axis of the wire. This results in much greater floor deflection for a given unit loading. Deflection is undesirable since it tends to make the pigs nervous. Also, because of the design of the woven wires, cleaning can become difficult because the narrowest part of each opening if not at or even near the top surface of the flooring.
There is therefore a need for an improved flooring that will minimize if not eliminate the problem of leg, knee and foot sores and abrasions. There is also a need for an improved wire mesh flooring that is easier to clean and will thus minimize disease due to bacteria buildup. Such an improved wire mesh flooring must also have sufficient strength and be capable of being manufactured at a reasonable cost.